For automotive applications, fasteners are used to join trim pieces to sections or metal body portions of the automobile. The requirements for these fasteners are that they be insertable into apertures of the automobile and meet requirements to both retain the trim piece as well as provide a minimum pullout retention force such that the trim piece can be removed to replace a damaged trim piece. In the event that an air bag has deployed which requires replacement of the air bag and/or the trim piece supporting the air bag, the fasteners need to be removable. Common fastener designs include directly opposed flexible wings which deflect inwardly upon insertion of the fastener and expand by spring force to hold the fastener within a rectangular slot in the automobile. These fasteners are typically intended to be at least semi-permanent. A drawback of commonly used fasteners is the lack of an accessible fastener joint to remove the fastener/trim piece for easy replacement following damage or an air bag deployment event.
Further drawbacks of existing designs include additional parts such as screws, malfunction problems between screws and metal, installation or removal labor required, beauty-cap requirements, lack of color match, a driver tool over-powering the metal/screw, high tooling cost, improper fitup causing loose components, and lack of ability to disengage from the trim when housing a full size air curtain.